Student Claims About
S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders
(Taken from our reflections and
added comments after the Socratic
Seminar)
No longer is Ponyboy selfish, like wishing he was
a Soc so he could gain their benefits or wishing he
looked like a movie star.
Ponyboy realizes that you shouldn’t judge
someone by their looks or anything else before you
know who and what they are.
Ponyboy has changed throughout the book because
in the beginning he thinks only him and the
Greasers have it bad in life, but after all that
happens he realizes that is not entirely true.
Ponyboy also wanted to show that there was good
inside of everything and that anything can be
appreciated in a certain perspective when he says
“and it was too late to tell them that there was still
good in it, and they wouldn’t believe you if you
did.
These are just boys who are trying to do everything
for themselves, so they turn to each other.
Ponyboy has changed in a very important way,
realizing that he has to share his story to make
things better, instead of just hiding it away.
Once Ponyboy’s friends are gone, he sees how he
should help others from being afraid of life.
What Johnny is saying in his letter to Ponyboy is
that when Ponyboy and Johnny rescued kids from
a burning church, it was worth saving them. It was
a good feeling and a good thing to do.
ELABORATE
CLARIFY
Tell me more about…
What do you mean by
(vague word)?
Why is that important?
I wonder how/why…
Can you be more
specific about…?
Can you explain _____
better?
SUPPORT WITH
EXAMPLES
Can you give an
example from the text?
Can you show me
where it says that?
What is the evidence for
_____________?
BUILD ON/
CHALLENGE
IDEAS
Your point ________
leads me to additional
ideas: _______
or
I understand the
_______ part of your
point, but consider
these points: _______
Another important thing Ponyboy realizes is that
the Socs are just like the Greasers, just sad,
uncared for kids that had no adult supervision and
just roamed the streets beating the other gang up
just because they did not know them enough and
they just stereotyped them.
Ponyboy realizes that in the world he lives in,
people judge others by looks and not by a person’s
actions.
Ponyboy then thinks of how he is affected in terms
of his theory and realizes he also feels he does not
belong perfectly with who he is with and who he is
supposed to be.
Ponyboy is finally realizing that he lives in a
terrible place where he can’t be himself and bad
things always happen.
Ponyboy changed hugely over the course of the
book, although so did his problems.
There is more inside of kids than they know and
they could go places better than where they were,
and someone needed to tell them that.
Ponyboy also doesn’t want people to be afraid
because of what others may think.
Johnny knew [there was good in the world]. That’s
why he was trying to spread it, because he knew
that if people listened, it could really help them.
Pony has come out of the dark to the light and has
experienced pain, but in the end he pushed forward
and left the past behind. Nothing gold can stay but
the past is the past and keep moving forward.
Also, towards the end, Ponyboy realized that he
wanted to support others.
And the fact that Ponyboy knows [that some
people hate the world even though there is good in
it] is what has changed his stereotypical attitude
toward life.
I think that [Ponyboy] changed by the end of the
book, because at the beginning all that was on his
mind was the Socs but at the end all that was on his
mind was school and his family.
Ponyboy is good, so Johnny wants him to stay that
way and stay alive.